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Tue Nov 22, 2005 1:32 am

“Tomorrow Is A Long Time” would have made a good single release back in 1966 I think, and would probably have raised Elvis’ profile again, although how this would have been followed would depend on whether RCA stuck to their policy of issuing soundtrack cuts as singles and studio cuts as ‘bonus songs’ which was prevalent at the time.

There are a number of candidates from Jan/Feb 1969 and June 1970, some of which have already been mentioned here, but it wasn’t common practice then for record companies to lift multiple singles from their album releases, with potential singles sometimes being purposely left off albums for release in their own right.

If “From Elvis In Memphis” was a new album release these days, I think we could expect more single releases from the set, and the likelihood of tracks like “Suspicious Minds” and “Don’t Cry Daddy” being included in the album rather like the more recent CD re-issues of the set.

With regards to the “Polk Salad Annie”/”See See Rider “ single, I think this was issued by RCA UK to promote the “Elvis On Tour” documentary even though they used the previously issued February 1970 versions of these tracks, which are quite different in terms of arrangement to the versions of the same songs that actually featured in the movie.

Tue Nov 22, 2005 4:38 am

She Thinks I still Care and Pledging My Love were B-sides that were strong enough to be singles. Good country singles.

Tue Nov 22, 2005 4:54 am

Shouldhavebeens: (And I hold the EU singles aside)

1960/61: The Girl Of My Best Friend/The Girl Next Door Went A Walkin'
1961/62: I'm Coming Home/Judy
1962: Suspicion/Gonna Get Back Home Somehow
1964: C'mon Everyboyd/Today, Tomorrow And Forever
1965: Memphis Tennessee/Western Union
1966: Down In The Alley/Tomorrow Is A Long Time
1968: Too Much Monkey Business/Just Call Me Lonesome
1966: Shake That Tambourine/Animal Instinct
1969: Clean Up Your Own Back Yard should have c/w Change Of Habit
1969: Only The Strong Survive/Stranger In My Own Home Town
1970: Stranger In The Crowd/Just Pretend
1971: It's Your Baby, You Rock It/It Ain't No Big Thing
1972: Help Me Make It Through The Night/For The Good Times
1973: My Way (Aloha)/Never Been To Spain (Feb.'72)
1974: I Got A Feeling In My Body/Talk About The Good Times
1977: I wish he would have put down his vocal for
There's A Fire Down Below and c/w He'll Have To Go

Came to think of King Of The Whole Wide World/Home Is Where The Heart is which were lifted off the KID GALAHAD EP in Scandinavia, leaving that a 4 track EP. The single got to no1 both in Norway and Sweden as I recall!

Tue Nov 22, 2005 2:11 pm

A problem with this exercise for Elvis in the 1950s, early 1960s and 1968-1970 is the fact thar Elvis was recording so much good material that it couldn't be contained on his singles. "Girl of My Best Friend" is often cited as a potential lost hit but what of the three singles from 1960 could have been replaced? "Suspicion" was definitely single material but it's hard to have beat it out "She's Not You" or "Return To Sender" which both had more obvious pop hooks. I think "Hawaiian Wedding Song" would have made a great followup to "Can't Help Falling in Love" but as Greg Nolan and others pointed out multiple singles were not the rule in the 1960s and "Can't Help Falling in Love" was the track to beat. For that matter although "Wearin' That Loved on Look" would have indeed made a great single would it have fared better than the four- mostly stunning and all fabulously successful- singles that were released.

As the previous writer points out the mid-60s is where Elvis and the organization began to lose the plot releasing material that didn't always capture his strengths. You have to throw the final blame for "It Hurts Me" though on the listening public and DJs. The DJs and fans in that era always had the option of flipping a record over. Many hits like "Unchained Melody" by the Righteous Brothers came about this way. For some reason the audience was simply not prepared for a track like "It Hurts Me."

"Memphis" and "Tomorrow is a Long Time" would have definitely been hits IMO although "Tomorrow" may have needed some editing to gain pop airplay. I also think "I Washed My Hands in Muddy Water" or "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" should have been released in 1971. This was the beginning of the multiple single era. Releasing these powerful rockers as singles instead of the uncommercial (albeit beautiful) "I'm Leaving" and the pedestrian other tracks released during the year would have focused attention back on "Elvis Country" and would have continued the momentum of 1970. Look what happened with "Burning Love" the following year.

Tue Nov 22, 2005 2:15 pm

Just for the record- Jerry Butler's "Only the Strong Survive" was just entering the charts when Elvis recorded his version and it was Terry Stafford who hit #3 in the US with "Suspicion" a chintzy Elvis knockoff.